


THAT Question

by Kira_Dattei



Series: Moments Between Missions [16]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: M/M, Marriage Proposal, Shore Leave, Space Husbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 13:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13571082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kira_Dattei/pseuds/Kira_Dattei
Summary: Commander John Shepard has something he wants to ask Major Kaidan Alenko. It sounds so much easier than it is.





	THAT Question

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been sitting on this one for quite a while. It'll be the second time I've written these guys getting engaged (the other being in A Touch of the Past) and both times I got really nervous about actually posting the scene. I like the exchanges, but for some reason I just get all antsy about it. Oh well, you don't get anywhere by letting anxiety rule your life so here it is for your enjoyment!  
> Enjoy! ^_^

The party had been great, Shepard decided. One of the best things he’d organized this entire war if his very biased opinion was valid. And it was.

He was still coming down off the endorphins of spending nearly two days with his friends and crew if his thought process was anything to go off of. Not that he minded: being in a good mood because of time spent with the people he cared about was something that needed to happen more often.

Especially with the loss of Thessia still heavy on his heart. They’d all been out of sorts since that mission.

But watching all the people he’d come to rely on over the past few years talk, dance, drink, and mess around for hours on end had been something beyond his expectations in the best way. There were so many things about last night that Shepard knew he’d never forget. Really, how was he supposed to forget Zaeed flirting with Samara? He sure wasn’t going to let the opportunity slide to tease the man about it if he got the chance. And Wrex and Grunt just getting more and more wild as the night went on was more than worth the fallout of the pair of krogans drunk. As long as he didn’t get another call from C-Sec to pick one of them up, he figured it would be a victory.

A lot of them had stuck around the apartment for a good few hours through the day after as well, some needing to recover while others just didn’t have anywhere else to be and decided there was nothing wrong with filling Shepard’s apartment. And Shepard was actually half-expecting most of his current crew to be crashing there again tonight. They’d left a little while ago, but had announced that they were just getting more food since Shepard’s kitchen was officially cleaned out and they couldn't have that.

And, of course, Kaidan was staying there for the rest of their shore leave, which was set for the next two days as the Normandy was given a full inspection of operations.

Actually, Kaidan had spent every shore leave at the apartment with Shepard for the past six months. Sure, that only meant about once a month with how they didn’t really get that great of a deal on downtime, but it was the principle of the thing.

What was more significant was that Kaidan spent a good deal of nights with Shepard in general. The only reason it wasn’t every night, in Shepard’s opinion, was that their work was most convenient to do in different parts of the ship: Shepard’s cabin for him and the Starboard Observation Deck for Kaidan – EDI having set up a holoscreen over the window coded to Kaidan there.

Things between him and Kaidan had been as good, no better, than he’d imagined they would be. They really were a good match in this. Their temperaments were complimentary, they knew and understood each other better than ever, and even the times they’d fought had only helped them get closer together once they'd work things out.

Shepard had always respected Kaidan Alenko. He couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t thought having the man aboard had been a bad thing, that he hadn’t appreciated what Kaidan did for his superior officers, whether it was Hackett, Anderson, or Shepard himself.

He actually sort of liked that Kaidan was higher ranked than him now; Kaidan being a Marine and Shepard being Navy notwithstanding because they were still both under the Alliance. There was a pressure off of them that had been a factor between them three years ago. He knows he would have pursued things between them a lot sooner if being Kaidan’s commanding officer hadn’t been a thing. And he knew Kaidan thought about that, had even admitted to aspects of it throughout all their talks. But now, there wasn’t that concern.

Shepard figured even if it had still been an issue, they wouldn’t have let it stop them now. They’d both come a long way since they’d met on the SR-1.

Being aware of that was part of the reason his attention was caught up by the item taking up residence in his pocket, where it had been since they landed at the Citadel a few days ago.

“John?” Shepard shook his head a bit at hearing his first name being called. “John” and “Kaid” were names usually reserved for private or intimate moments. Either way, it got the other’s attention because they didn’t hear it often.

Just like it worked now and he turned to look across the room to where Kaidan was watching him with an amused expression. Well, at least if Kaidan was amused he hadn’t just tuned out anything important.

They were settled in the smaller living room tucked away in the back of the apartment, which Shepard used as an office. Shepard was catching up on reading the messages he’d received over the past two days at his terminal and Kaidan was at the table working through a pile of datapads with his own list of messages to get through along with the seemingly hundreds of intel reports he received that he sorted through and forwarded to interested superiors. He was turned toward Shepard, the datapad in his hand resting on his leg with the display turned off.

“Yeah?” he asked, just in case he hadn’t actually missed anything and this was Kaidan’s first try on getting his attention.

“How long have you not been listening?”

Well that answered that. “How long have you been talking?”

Kaidan let out a laugh at Shepard and the Commander now wondered if his boyfriend was just messing with him now. It was something Kaidan did all the time: realizing he had an opening and running with it as long as he could.

“Nice to know my voice blends into the background so easily. Never thought my vocal chords matched whatever instrumentals you have playing through the apartment,” Kaidan said, his tone thoroughly amused. He then lifted his datapad back up and turned the display back on, looking as though he’d dismissed Shepard that easily.

Shepard always had music playing in the apartment. He was so used to being on a ship, of having the hum of engines – at least – around him all the time, meant that a completely silent place put Shepard off-balance. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d spent enough time on a planet to get used to the silence again. So, music made up the difference and Kaidan had never indicated opposition.

“Like you’ve never been so lost in work you haven’t heard people saying shit to you,” Shepard shot back, amused as well now that he was sure he was just being teased. Shepard was good about picking out Kaidan’s tells, even when he wasn’t being obvious like he was now.

“Yeah, but it’s normal for me to tune out.”

Shepard closed out his terminal and stood, walking towards Kaidan, who continued to act like he wasn’t focusing on his partner. To be fair, the guy could multi-task, so he very well could be working while holding the conversation with Shepard. He walked up to stand behind Kaidan then leaned over to rest his weight on the back of the chair.

“You gonna tell me if you really said something?” he asked, lowering his voice a little to the deeper tone he knew Kaidan loved. Kaidan leaned back a bit in the chair, his shoulders coming in contact with Shepard’s hands, but he just kept looking forward at the datapad.

“Do I get anything out of it?”

Shepard’s hands moved to rest on Kaidan’s shoulders then, putting a bit of strength to the grip to dig into muscles always knotted. And since Kaidan wasn’t in uniform, just wearing a t-shirt that fit him alluringly, Shepard could feel the tightness in the shoulders ease a little as Kaidan exhaled with the pressure. He didn’t keep it up, though. He trailed his hands up to Kaidan’s neck, one coming forward a bit to cup the shaven cheek and turn it towards him as he leaned down. Kaidan allowed the movement and even rose up to meet Shepard so he could give him a firm kiss.

Shepard brushed his tongue across Kaidan’s lips just before pulling away, happily teasing the man with the promise of more. They’d been pretty restricted on what they could get away with the past two days, not actually getting time to themselves because of the party and friends refusing to leave. Even now, they were expecting some of them to be coming back so they couldn’t get into anything too passionate. If they got too heated, they wouldn’t stop, simple as that.

So, Shepard hovered for a few seconds just out of reach of Kaidan’s lips unless he stood up, smiling at how his boyfriend took a few seconds to open his eyes. When brown eyes did slide open, Shepard had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes at the satisfied look Kaidan gave him.

“I guess that’s acceptable,” he said, his voice as even as always. Shepard had never considered how put out it would make him to not have an obvious display of how he affected Kaidan. He liked knowing that he could see a side of the biotic that no one else did.

“You want Garrus and James to come back to me buried in your ass?”

At least Kaidan’s cheeks flushed a little at that: outright crude statements when they weren’t in the middle of referenced act were always very likely to get some color on Kaidan’s cheeks, even if he was throwing them back.

“I’d be more worried about Liara and Tali catching us. James is easy enough to mess with and I can threaten Garrus. Tali is a bit too much of a fan of us making any display and Liara’s just too frightening with her whole Shadow Broker status.”

Shepard broke down a little at that observation, laying his forehead against Kaidan’s shoulder as he chuckled. He felt a hand run over his buzzed head, tracing the line of his scar in a familiar touch.

“You just looked like you were thinking about more than whatever was on the screen. You don’t have a ship to make the rounds on to get you out of your head so I figured this’d be good enough.”

Of course Kaidan would be aware of that being part of the reason he checked in with everyone around the ship when he did. He knew when mulling over something wasn’t going to do any good so he’d let himself focus on something external and it’d all work out. Then again, a lot of the reports from the Alliance and the Council went to Kaidan as well as Shepard - and Kaidan would actually  often summarize them and forward that to Shepard so he didn't have to look through everything - so the Major had an informed idea of all the information Shepard had to go through and knew how much of it was disheartening. Hell, Kaidan actually received more than he did.

“How’d I ever get lucky enough to snag such an observant and caring partner?” he asked, turning to press a kiss to Kaidan’s temple.

“Karma’s not a bitch to good people and you make it a point to only punch assholes.”

Shepard was stealing that: the next time someone called him out for how he handled a situation, _that_ was the explanation he was going with. But, for now, he laughed against Kaidan’s skin before pressing another kiss there.

Kaidan let the mood pass, setting the datapad down on the table and reaching his hand up to hold onto the back of Shepard’s neck, keeping him in close for a few seconds before letting him pull away. Shepard didn’t go far, giving one last squeeze to Kaidan’s shoulders before stepping to the side and pulling out the chair to his right and sitting down.

“So, was it anything in particular holding your attention or just one of those days?” Kaidan asked as Shepard leaned forward and reached for the datapad on the top of the stack next to him. Kaidan usually worked left-to-right so it was likely something he’d already gone through. Considering Kaidan just watched him turn on the display, he was right; Shepard was curious by nature and had stopped curbing the desire to pry when it came to Kaidan. Kaidan didn’t get on him about it either – likely because he understood the urge to know _everything_ – and would just take back a datapad that had anything on it Shepard wasn’t privy to. That or he’d just activate his security for the device and Shepard would just accept he couldn’t look and move on.

Again, well matched…

“Sort of both. Honestly, I’m not sure where I got the idea I’d be able to get anything done after last night.”

Kaidan smiled at that. “It was certainly a memorable occasion. It was good for us.”

“Absolutely. I’m pretty sure I saw a side of everyone I’d never seen before. We’ve all seen each other through some rough shit so I guess it gets harder to remember what it can be like in the times between all that where we can just be us.”

“And here I thought you’d seen it all when you finally got me in dress uniform.”

“And here I remember you saying how a guy needed his secrets. Or are you telling me you got me all excited for nothing?”

Kaidan crossed his arms and relaxed back into the chair. “I guess you’ll find out.” Shepard kicked out, tagging Kaidan’s shin lightly. “Hey, you know me better than anyone. That’s got to count for something.”

“Top billing, huh?”

“There’d be something wrong if it weren’t like that.” Kaidan put so much value in his relationships that Shepard knew he truly believed that. And it wasn’t like they hadn’t worked to know each other as well as they did. That there was a natural ease between them didn’t mean much if they hadn’t put in the effort to become so close.

“Good point,” he replied, making sure Kaidan knew he agreed. “Either way, last night, seeing everyone let go like that considering the state of everything, what we’re facing, it got me thinking.”

Kaidan’s demeanor shifted a bit, following along with Shepard’s tone taking on a serious air. Shepard wasn’t as focused as he normally was, still working through what he wanted to say, but Kaidan was taking the right cues and keeping up just fine. “Working something out?” he prompted and Shepard decided his lover was getting better at that: knowing when to say something to help move the conversation forward.

“Yeah. Something’s been on my mind for a while now and I’ve been trying to figure out if it’s the right time for it.”

Kaidan was trying to figure out what he was talking about with very little to go on, though Shepard had expected him to. It was just who Kaidan was, as he was an intel officer who had the commendations on his record to prove he was good at it.

“What’d you work out so far?”

Shepard turned off the display of the datapad, feeling like it was time to give the issue all the attention it deserved. Kaidan deserved all the attention he had. After all, they’d both run the course of acting like what they said to each other wasn’t given the greatest value.

“I hold myself back too much,” Shepard declared. Kaidan lifted an eyebrow at the statement but didn’t say anything, letting Shepard elaborate on his own. “Everyone knows I put everything into my job, that being the Commander Shepard everyone needs gets all the attention I can give it. It means that I haven’t had as much of a chance to commit to being just ‘John’. I haven’t quite figured out what that part of me is capable of. And because I’m not sure of it, I don’t let myself go to explore it.”

“Ok, sounds about right,” Kaidan responded when Shepard stopped for a few seconds. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table and resting his weight on them. Shepard reached out to him, touching his hand to Kaidan’s arm just to be touching him.

“But I don’t think it’s as bad anymore. I’ve got plenty of people that I can be myself around and not worry about if how I’m acting is the right thing or not. Last night sort of proved that, that people just showed up here and didn’t care about anything but having fun. Outside these walls didn’t matter. That felt important.”

Kaidan gave him a brief smile at that, one that told Shepard the biotic thought it was good observation. “It was. We’ve always got our eyes on the rest of the galaxy.” He nodded down to the stack of datapads next to him, case and point. “You get lost if you don’t focus in on what only matters to you every once in a while.”

Shepard figured it was something Kaidan knew plenty about. It was part of why he felt like this was a good lead-in to his point.

“You help a lot with that, you know. Just having someone around that is okay with me just being ‘John’ is better than I imagined it would be. We made a good choice with this, being together.”

“I’m glad you still think so. It wasn’t something I was looking to have change.”

“Me neither. So, I was thinking about something we could do about that.”

He’d opened the door, Kaidan had followed and then taken the lead to take them right where he’d been hoping. Shepard reached into his pocket, then set the items he’d been carrying there on the table between the two of them. It was a pair of rings, simple bands that would meet regs to be allowed while they were in uniform. The only specification he’d made about getting them had been that they be titanium, not wanting to have Kaidan have to deal with something conductive like Shepard’s dog tag was.

Kaidan was looking at them, his expression guarded and Shepard wondered if he’d made a mistake after all. He tried to ignore the thought, knowing that Kaidan usually had that expression when he was working through something, when he was deep in thought. And Kaidan thought through his choices, rarely charged in without considering what he was doing. And this was in no way a decision that shouldn’t be thought over.

Understanding that didn’t help Shepard’s growing unease.

Facing down a Reaper was a cakewalk compared to this. That was just survival. This was a future; one Shepard would look forward to seeing.

Kaidan looked back over to Shepard, his expression still thoughtful, not revealing a decision being made. He hadn’t pulled away from Shepard’s hand at least, so there was that little comfort that he wasn’t so thrown that he didn’t allow touch. From Kaidan, that meant a lot since touch was a big deal with him: he didn’t allow it from many people. “When’d you pick these up?” he asked in his neutral tone, gathering intel to find his conclusion.

“When we docked a few days ago. But the first time I looked was just before the whole clone debacle.”

“Six weeks, huh? I’m impressed it’s taken you this long to work it out.”

“Like I said, I’ve got a bad habit of holding myself back when it has nothing to do with command. I’m working on it. And having you around to help me out there sounds like the best idea I’ve had in a while.”

Finally, Kaidan gave him a smile, a small, hesitant one that was entirely too attractive and made Shepard want to kiss Kaidan and not stop.

Not that he _usually_ wanted to stop kissing Kaidan. It was never a thought that appealed to him, especially once they got going and he remembered – without ever really forgetting – how much he loved having his mouth on Kaidan.

“Kaid, you know I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time. And being with you, it’s an honor and a privilege and I want to do everything I can to show how much it means to me. How much you mean to me. And you mean everything to me so there’s no reason to act like this is any less serious than it is. That’s where I’m coming from on this.”

Kaidan was smiling again, a little more genuine and comfortable this time. “Not a bad place to come from. You sure you’re not just charming me into the answer you want to hear?”

Kaidan joking around wasn’t helping his nerves. Shepard didn’t really pick his words to get a specific response from Kaidan, mainly because Kaidan saw through it and called him on his bullshit. But that didn’t stop him from being given crap about it when he pulled it with people when they weren’t in a high stakes situation.

Then, Kaidan took in a heavy breath, releasing it slowly in a soothing manner. One Shepard was familiar with as the man forcing himself to relax and he felt just a little guilty for not remembering that Kaidan was as bad about this sort of stuff as he was, if not worse. He just hid it a lot better. Kaidan hadn’t just been keeping to his habit of gathering intel, he was working through his own nerves to get the answer.

“To be serious, I have one question,” Kaidan said and Shepard wondered what expression he’d been giving for the biotic to cut right to the chase.

“Ok.”

“I know what I mean to you, and not because you just said. If nothing else, you’ve always been good about being pretty transparent with me, especially since we got together. What I want to know is what this means to you. Why is this any different than how we’ve been things for the past eight months?”

“You know how things were for me growing up.” Kaidan gave him a nod. “If there was one thing I didn’t have, it was a good example of what a good family looked like. It was always survival and if you hooked up with someone, no big deal. It was just a decent distraction from the shit you’d see tomorrow.

“But when I enlisted, I at least started getting a glimpse of what family meant. I saw what it meant to have people who would watch your back, even if they had nothing to gain. Having a family of my own, spending my life with someone I loved became this appealing thing that was in the back of my mind to maybe happen one day. It’s not this distant thing anymore. It’s right in front of me and I don’t feel any different about wanting it, except now I know who it is at my side and that makes it all the better.”

Kaidan was looking at Shepard with a soft expression, the blend of emotions a welcome sight; it meant Kaidan likely found what he was looking for.

Kaidan reached out, keeping his right arm still so Shepard could keep in contact with him and picked up one of the rings, turning it over between his fingers. One of them was a little smaller, Shepard knowing that Kaidan’s fingers were just a bit slighter than his own. Not too much different – Shepard only noticed because of how he’d hold onto Kaidan during sex – but enough that his ring size would be smaller. But without holding them up next to each other there was no telling which one was which. And that had been the point in Shepard picking them.

“I lucked out with parents. They put up with a lot just because I was a biotic, but I can’t remember once where it was something that divided them. They loved each other and they loved me. Their marriage was a great example, something to strive for. But I also spent a lot of years figuring it’d be something that wasn’t for me.”

They’d never talked about this. Sure, they’d talked about family and Shepard knew how much Kaidan’s family meant to him. He wouldn’t have guessed it was a thing Kaidan was pessimistic about having for himself. It didn’t match up with Kaidan’s high value in family.

“How could you think that?” he asked, unable to mask the surprise.

“Just another side-effect of BAaT and Vyrnnus’ style of instruction. Most of the time we were there, contact with home was restricted. The best way to get a bunch of teenagers to stop nagging about calling their family was to pound in the idea that nobody wanted to talk to them. Biotics were a burden to their family and focusing on our training was the best thing we could do for anyone at home. The only useful biotic was a trained one.”

“You believed them?”

“Believed them, no. But you know that if you hear the same thing over and over again, you can’t help but listen on some level. Hell, it wasn’t until I was terrified of going home after the incident with Vyrnnus that I realized my mindset had changed. After all, I wasn’t just a biotic, I was a murderer. Why would my parents want someone like that around?”

“Because they loved you.”

Kaidan glanced up to him and gave him a sardonic grin. “If you could go back and convince me at seventeen of that, it’d be appreciated.” Shepard gave the biotic a flat look for the sarcasm. Kaidan just gave him a one-sided shrug and looked back at the object in his hand. “Don’t worry, I figured enough out since leaving BAaT that I know better. Some things may have taken be a bit longer to work out, but I got to where I don’t automatically question whether or not I have something to offer.”

“And about this?” Shepard asked as he pulled his hand off Kaidan’s arm and let it rest on the table next to the ring left there. This wasn’t going how he thought it would: there was a lot less acceptance or denial and a bit more soul-baring than he’d imagined.

“I swear, just one more question and I’m ready.” Shepard leaned back against his chair with a heavy sigh and rubbed his face with his hands before waving at Kaidan to ask away. “You’re gonna do your end of the paperwork in some semblance of a timely manner, right?” Shepard’s eyes opened quickly and he looked back over to Kaidan, watching the man slip the ring onto his left ring finger, the band sliding on for a snug fit so he’d either noticed the size difference or he had good luck grabbing randomly.

But he’d put it on. He’d accepted Shepard’s very unorthodox and nearly nonexistent proposal.

Well, damn if that wasn’t the least romantic thing he’d ever done and it was supposed to be this big deal. His only saving grace was that he knew Kaidan wasn’t too favorable of romantic gestures. Or, at least, his idea of “romantic” wasn’t the same as other people. Case in point: the first time Shepard called him “Kaid” – well, the second time since the first had been while he’d been suffering a migraine and he hadn’t remembered – he’d given Shepard a look of such shock and happiness that it was a wonder Shepard didn’t call him by the nickname more often. That had been romantic to Kaidan, something that he liked to have as a thing between them.

But right now, he was fixing Shepard with a smirk that was completely opposite to how important what he’d just done was. “Just because processing of a notification of marriage is way down the list of priorities to the Alliance, doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t get done. At least if things go our way, we won’t run into any red tape for getting it through.”

Shepard shook his head a bit in disbelief. “We’ll just put it through to Hackett with our next reports. He’ll get it put through.”

“And then call you and chew you out for not giving him a heads up.”

“Probably, but how often do I get to pull one over on an Admiral, let alone Hackett?”

“More often than he’d like to admit. At least we won’t need to worry about how the Alliance is going to handle us after the Reapers are dealt with.”

“One of us could always resign and live off the Spectre life.”

“And now you want Anderson getting all over our cases? Do you have some sort of quota to fill for pissing off commanding officers that you need to tell me about?”

“Yeah, good point. And the Council is best dealt with in small doses.”

“For you. Remember, they actually like having me around.”

“Too bad for them that I do too. And I officially have dibs.” Shepard finished his declaration as he grabbed the remaining ring off the table and slid it into place on his left hand. He’d slipped it on a few times over the past few days, so he knew how it felt to be there, but putting it on for real was something different.

Kaidan had really accepted.

He’d accepted being married to Shepard.

Commander John Shepard was going to be married to Major Kaidan Alenko.

John had a future to look forward to, one where he had a person at his side that he loved more than anything. That was worth living for.

Shepard stood up and moved around the corner of the table, then leaned down, putting his right hand on the table and lowering his left hand down to Kaidan’s thigh. Using his hands to balance his weight, he leaned forward and pressed his lips insistently on Kaidan’s, immediately taking a taste of his partner. Kaidan let out a pleased sigh as he pressed back against Shepard, encouraging him further as his hands went to Shepard’s cheeks and held the man against him.

It took Shepard all of a few seconds of making a thorough exploration of Kaidan’s mouth to wonder why they weren’t on the nearest flat surface to seal this event with some passionate lovemaking. He stepped a little closer as his right hand moved to the warmth of Kaidan’s body, sneaking under the bottom of the shirt to caress up the muscled stomach and towards his lover’s – _husband’s_ – chest.

He’d just started rolling a hardening nub between his fingers, getting an appreciative moan against his lips from Kaidan for doing so, when he was distracted by the front door beeping as it did to signal the lock being disabled with the code.

Shit, they hadn’t gotten into this sooner because they weren’t expecting to be left alone. Right, Shepard remembered that part now.

He pulled his lips away from Kaidan, the other man following him a bit in his passion. Shepard smiled as he always did when Kaidan showed that he didn’t want what they were doing to end like that.

“Sorry, Kaid. I forgot they were coming back,” he said, his voice rough and disappointed.

“It’d be uncalled for to kick them out after they refilled your kitchen, wouldn’t it?” Kaidan said in a whisper, his eyes still closed as he leaned forward again and stole another kiss. He also wasn’t giving up his grip on Shepard’s face so there wasn’t going to be any distance gained until that was gone. Not that Shepard’s hand had left its caress of Kaidan’s chest, his fingers still rubbing over the hardening nipple between taking shameless gropes of skin and muscle.

“Yeah. And they’d know why we were kicking them out and pester us, which would only get worse once they noticed the rings.” Shepard couldn’t help but nip at Kaidan’s lips, not succeeding in the least in calming himself down and pulling away so they could go get some more time in with their friends. He could hear them talking and moving around the kitchen, making sure he wasn’t missing the sound of someone walking further into the apartment and toward the two of them.

“Shit,” Kaidan muttered around a groan, then his grip on Shepard’s face relaxed, sliding down over his neck and chest in a deliberate caress, a promise for the “later” that was _going_ to be happening. Shepard followed along, answering the urge to feel as much skin as he possibly could as he brought his hand out from under Kaidan’s shirt, enjoying the little hitches he caused in Kaidan’s breathing. “John, this room doesn’t have a door and I actually don’t want anyone walking in on you feeling me up,” he ground out, a lot more pleasure in his voice than frustration.

Shepard pressed one final kiss to Kaidan’s lips before pulling his hand out and standing up straight, stretching back a bit to counter the hunched posture he’d kept for their exchange.

“Sorry. That really was as quick as I could manage.” Kaidan lifted an eyebrow at him and Shepard crossed his arms. “Come on, we both know you’re better about stopping in the middle of shit like that than I am.” The look didn’t leave Kaidan’s face, but Shepard saw the twitch of his lips that meant he was fighting a smile so he counted a point in his favor. Deciding he wasn’t quite ready to put distance between them, he sat down on the table, pushing the stack of datapads closer to Kaidan but far enough over so he’d be comfortable. Kaidan smiled then, pulling his chair back in closer to the table, and lifted his right arm to rest on Shepard’s thigh.

He reached for the pile of datapads to his left – ones he hadn’t gone over yet – and handed one over to Shepard. “If you’re going to be here, you might as well help me out. These are progress reports on the Crucible from representatives of each race. They get sorted by quadrants of the Crucible designated from the blueprints so we keep track of where everyone has been working and best utilized. You’ve seen the blueprints enough to work it out.”

Shepard grinned, amused at how Kaidan was trying to cover how flustered he was by focusing back on his work. Shepard took the datapad without any argument; they were reports he’d be reading at some point anyway, so might as well take care of it now and help Kaidan out at the same time. Kaidan went back to his own datapad as Shepard got to work, resting his hand on Kaidan’s arm, his fingers rubbing across the skin right above the elbow just where the shirt’s sleeve ended.

The silence between them lasted all of five minutes before Garrus and James yelled at them to get their asses to the living room to hang out like the good friends they were.

**Author's Note:**

> With this one I am officially caught up with what I have already written. I'm continuing to look for inspiration and will never leave these guys alone so look forward to more. I did get a prompt in a comment that I'm figuring out what to do with (thank you! :) ). Feel free to send prompts my way in a comment simply because I'm not really on Tumblr or another site.  
> Thank you so much for reading and see you next time!


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